BY ANGELINA BANEK
Green space advocates Green Guerillas, LUNGS, and the New York City Community Garden Coalition have called a press conference and rally at City Hall this Monday Oct. 28th at 11:30 a.m., just days after the City Council’s two-day hearing on “City of Yes” zoning changes, which would make it easier to build on city land currently occupied by community gardens.
“We are calling on Mayor Adams to exempt community gardens from Executive Order 43 and to reaffirm their protection,” they announced via a joint Instagram post. “These vital spaces are lifelines for food security, environmental health, and community building.”
Executive Order 43 was issued on Aug. 21st, 2024. The law requires “city agencies to review their city owned and controlled land for potential housing development sites.” There are currently over 550 community gardens on city property.
“We always have to be vigilant as community gardeners, because we’ve had so many of our gardens basically bull-dozed,” said Magali Regis, a board member of the New York City Community Garden Coalition. “We are aware of this executive order, and this is being proactive to let the mayor know that we are aware that the department of parks is on the list, and he’ll know– don’t take away our gardens,” Regis said.
Regis and others were especially focused on the Elizabeth Street Garden, which is scheduled to be evicted on October 30, despite pleas to save it from multiple celebrities. “We will also be advocating for Elizabeth Street Garden, because they’re on the chopping block right now,” Regis said. “The city wants to basically destroy it and build ‘affordable housing.’ But, the affordable housing has a clause, the developer is not being totally transparent.
Elizabeth Street advocates said via a social media post that they will be joining Monday’s City Hall rally, and encouraged people to arrive energized, with signs, and wearing the color green.
“Again, This rally is to protect all community gardens, not just ESG. We’ll be there and we’d love it if you can all join us! Wear your ESG Lions and let’s speak up for gardens across the city,” the post read.
According to the Elizabeth Street Garden website, the City Council structured the final deal so that the housing affordability is not guaranteed in perpetuity, as it is in mandatory inclusionary housing. Instead, the loan and the housing affordability is guaranteed for 60 years, with incentives to extend affordability at the end of the term. But it does not require extension.
Those concerned with City of Yes and its implications for New York argue that while it focuses on creating affordable housing, it does not always mandate it. The initiative is broad and will give the city more power to build new housing on green-spaces, something that is already sparse in the city.
Bernie Conway, a professional gardener at The New York Botanical Garden, believes access to nature is a vital necessity for New Yorkers.
“Whether it be a small community garden that’s only an acre or just a little lot, when you go into that space you transform, your mind changes and the way you look at the world,” he said. It’s like taking a different breath, like taking a sigh. Because all of a sudden you’re back where you belong in a sense.”
Conway challenged people to think holistically and consider how future generations of New Yorkers will be impacted by these changes.
“I really think we need to push to have more greenspace instead of taking away green space. I understand cities need housing, but you need to have everything that goes along with it. People really need to start looking 10, 20, 50 years down the road,” he said. “You have to look at it as a big system, it’s not just one thing, everything is so interconnected and I think that’s where politicians are missing it.”
Green spaces enrich neighborhoods by providing fresh produce, educational events for children, and opportunities for city dwellers to get outdoors.
Abdo Muharam, who works at Azza’s Garden, a commercial garden center in Harlem, is concerned about the impact this new legislation could have.
“If they’re going to use up that land, it might affect sales,” he said. “It’s very important, a lot of senior citizens, once they hit a certain age, they don’t have much to do. It keeps them busy. And also, you’d be surprised, a lot of young folks, they’re into gardening. It’s very important.”
The current conflict echoes a similar effort during the administration of former mayor Rudi Giuliani in the late 90s and early 2000s. In 1998, Giuliani attempted to auction off 114 community gardens. In one instance, on Tuesday Feb. 15th, 2000, Esperanza Garden was uprooted to make way for housing. Thirty-one protesters were arrested. A week later, 200 showed up and stormed the lot where Esperanza Community Garden once thrived. After Mayor Giuliani’s term ended, the destruction of community gardens slowed, but did not completely stop.
If there was a need for housing during the Giuliani administration, there is certainly a need now. According to a New York Department of Housing Press Release, the city’s vacancy rate has dropped to 1.4 percent, the lowest rate recorded since 1968.
“The data is clear: the demand to live in our city is far outpacing our ability to build housing. New Yorkers need our help, and they need it now,” said Mayor Adams in the press release.
“The Bronx is the greenest borough, and that’s still not enough green space,” Conway countered. “I understand you want to build all this housing, but what about the food deserts you’re going to create?”